PITTSBURGH, PA (PTTP) – Matt Wilps and Donnie Tasser both wrestled in high school and
continued their wrestling career at Pitt. They were paired up as freshman-year roommates and
shared many memories. Wilps says, “The competition in that mat room was insane… it
was a really good environment to own your competitive spirit. We decided to keep that
going and come down to NASCAR.” They both got a call to try out and took that opportunity
and Tasser says, “…the rest was history.”
Coach Flynn is the recruiter for Hendrick Motorsports and says he is looking for college athletes to
come join their team. Most of the people on this crew come from an athletic background. Both
Wilps and Tasser work on the cars as they come by as a part of the pit crew. The drivers talk very
highly of these crew members. One driver, Alex Bowman, states, “If you didn’t have a pit crew to
come out and change your tires, you would be out to lunch.” Another driver, Todd Gilliland,
talks about the pit crew as, “probably the most important, sometimes overlooked people at the
racetrack.”
Both Wilps and Tasser are happy with the track that they ended up taking. For more information
check out,
https://www.pitt.edu/pittwire/features-articles/alumni-compete-indycar-nascar-brickyard-weeken
d-2023
Credit: Morgan Wilfong